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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he would work to put strained ChinaJapan relations caused by the territorial dispute over the Diaoyu Islands back on track at the first official press conference after his party won the general election last December. But a series of diplomatic and military moves of the new Japanese cabinet within weeks of Abe taking office were in stark contrast to the words of the new prime minister.
Observers said recent moves taken by the Japanese Government lose sight of the essence of peacemaking in resolving the island dispute. They are counterproductive to revitalizing strategic and mutually beneficial China-Japan relations.
Under the current situation, observers said both China and Japan should remain calm, prevent the escalation of the dispute and try to create a more relaxed atmosphere for talks.
Diplomatic campaign
It is widely believed that Japan has moved swiftly to hem in China diplomatically since Abe’s new cabinet took office.
Abe sent Vice Prime Minister Taro Aso to Myanmar at the beginning of January to bolster Japanese investment in the promising and underexplored market, where China already has a substantial presence. Shortly after, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida began his first trip as the country’s top diplomat to the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei and Australia. Meanwhile, with Abe’s visit to Washington postponed, the new prime minister chose Viet Nam, Thailand and Indonesia as the destinations of his first official foreign tour.
Chinese observers said these visits aimed not only to deepen economic ties with Southeast Asian countries but also to shore up its strategic presence in the region—ultimately as a means to encircle China.
“It seems that Japan wishes to surround and isolate China by wooing other countries in the region, thereby gaining an edge in the Diaoyu Islands dispute,” said Jia Xiudong, a senior research fellow with the China Institute of International Studies.
Abe’s diplomatic arrangement is meant to build a kind of international strategic landscape that favors Japan while standing against China, said Liu Jiangyong, a professor of international relations with Tsinghua University. Though the diplomatic debut of Abe’s second term as prime minister geographically steered clear of China, it nonetheless kept China at its diplomatic core in the region, said Liu.
“The Abe administration is trying to strengthen ties with some Asia-Pacific countries to create a better international landscape for Japan, while attempting to sow discord between China and some of its neighbors for Japan’s own benefit,” said the professor. Despite similarly strained ties with Seoul over a separate territorial spat, Abe’s interactions with South Korea showed a greater eagerness to repair ties there. The Japanese prime minister recently said he hoped to establish a trusting relationship with President-elect Park Geun Hye as soon as possible. In early January, Abe sent former Japanese Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga to lead envoys to Seoul in order to mend bilateral relations. The envoys delivered a letter to Park, in which Abe voiced hope for progress in bilateral relations.
During Taro’s latest visit to Myanmar, Japan announced that it will write off Myanmar’s overdue debt and provide a fresh low-interest loan. And Japanese media reported that during his latest Viet Nam visit Abe promised closer security ties with the ASEAN country, seeking to bolster an alliance between Japan and other countries embroiled in territorial disputes with China.
“Abe’s efforts to ease tensions with South Korea, deepen relations with ASEAN countries as well as his possible visit to Russia in April are all essentially international public relations exercises relating to Japan’s island dispute with China,” Liu said.
“Tokyo knows that it cannot confront Beijing directly, and that’s why it depends on its alliance with Washington while courting other regional players that it can collaborate with, including Australia and some ASEAN countries,”Liu said. “But East Asian countries still have wariness about Japan’s moving politically right as well as Abe’s attitude toward Japan’s past war crimes.”
It is not an exaggeration to call Abe’s new cabinet right wing. Fourteen in the cabinet belong to the League for Going to Worship Together at Yasukuni, a Tokyo shrine that honors war dead including some war criminals of World War II. Thirteen support Nihon Kaigi, a nationalist think tank that rejects Japan’s “apology diplomacy” for its wartime misdeeds. Nine belong to a parliamentary association that wants the teaching of history in schools to present a better image of Japan’s militarist era. They deny most of Japan’s wartime atrocities.
Recently, Sanae Takaichi, head of the powerful policy research council of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said Abe should issue a statement that backtracks on some of Japan’s previous apologies for wartime actions and“protects the honor and pride” of the nation. So far, the Japanese Government hasn’t officially apologized for forcing sexual slaves from Asian countries to serve in Japan’s frontline military brothels during World War II. “One of the major determining factors in international relations is national interest. There is no country that is willing to make an enemy of China within the Asia-Pacific region or even around the world. Although taking advantage of the disputes China has with some other coun- tries may allow Japan to alienate a few countries from China, it is impossible to force them to antagonize China,” Jia said to Beijing Review.
Heightened tensions
Besides the hasty foreign visits, the Japanese military has been maneuvering frequently since the inauguration of the new cabinet. Japan’s Self-Defense Forces have carried out an island defense drill and a five-day joint military exercise with the U.S. Air Force in the East China Sea. In the meantime, Japan is expected to increase defense spending for the first time in 11 years. The extra cash will be used to increase the number of military personnel and upgrade equipment.
“Japan’s frequent military drills aim in one sense to deter China, but mostly intend to show the Japanese public its hard-line attitude toward the island dispute. Tokyo also wants to create an impression to the outside world that Washington would join hands with it to respond to China over the island dispute. But deterrence is of little practical significance for China,” said Jia.
However, real dangers still pose a threat. Chinese and Japanese military planes shadowed each other in the vicinity of the Diaoyu Islands on January 10. A statement from China’s Ministry of National Defense said two Japanese F-15 fighters closely followed a Chinese Y-8 military transport aircraft when it was on a regular patrol in airspace off China’s east coast. At the same time, a Japanese reconnaissance aircraft was also operating in that area. In response, China scrambled two J-10 fighters to conduct verification and monitoring.
“The incident highlighted the lingering potential danger for friction between the two neighbors,” said Zhang Zhaozhong, a professor with the National Defense University of the People’s Liberation Army.
Zhang said sending warplanes to safeguard China’s sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands doesn’t mean China wants to solve the island dispute through open conflict.
“Every step of China has been a response to Japan’s actions. It is simply self-defense, but shows that if Japan resorts to using force, China will certainly fight back,” Zhang said.
Liu of Tsinghua University said the Diaoyu Islands issue is a persistent territorial dispute between China and Japan. To avoid the escalation of the current situation, the two sides should find a way to begin diplomatic negotiations. Both countries must engage in crisis management over the dispute. Recent tensions over the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea flared up in September 2012, when the Japanese Government “purchased” some of the islands from their Japanese“owner,” even though the islands appeared on China’s official maps several centuries ago.
“There is no reason for Tokyo to refuse negotiations with China on the issue,” Liu said.
During a press conference days before his first overseas tour, however, Abe reiterated his stance over the Diaoyu Islands issue, saying the issue is “not negotiable.”
Jia of the CIIS said the tough stance of Abe could only harm the mutual trust between the two neighbors and make an eventual settlement of the dispute more difficult to attain. China wishes to improve relations with Japan, but it will not bow to unfair compromises or allow Japan to damage its core interests.
While Abe started his ASEAN tour, former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama paid a four-day visit to China. Hatoyama held talks with Chinese officials and visited the Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre, in which Japanese forces killed an estimated 300,000 Chinese people following their December 1937 conquest of Nanjing, then capital of China. Analysts hope that the former Japanese leader would help build a communication channel amid tensions over the Diaoyu Islands.
“Hatoyama cannot represent Abe, but he can represent the views of many Japanese people. The visit could exert a degree of influence in Japan,” Jia said.
Observers said recent moves taken by the Japanese Government lose sight of the essence of peacemaking in resolving the island dispute. They are counterproductive to revitalizing strategic and mutually beneficial China-Japan relations.
Under the current situation, observers said both China and Japan should remain calm, prevent the escalation of the dispute and try to create a more relaxed atmosphere for talks.
Diplomatic campaign
It is widely believed that Japan has moved swiftly to hem in China diplomatically since Abe’s new cabinet took office.
Abe sent Vice Prime Minister Taro Aso to Myanmar at the beginning of January to bolster Japanese investment in the promising and underexplored market, where China already has a substantial presence. Shortly after, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida began his first trip as the country’s top diplomat to the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei and Australia. Meanwhile, with Abe’s visit to Washington postponed, the new prime minister chose Viet Nam, Thailand and Indonesia as the destinations of his first official foreign tour.
Chinese observers said these visits aimed not only to deepen economic ties with Southeast Asian countries but also to shore up its strategic presence in the region—ultimately as a means to encircle China.
“It seems that Japan wishes to surround and isolate China by wooing other countries in the region, thereby gaining an edge in the Diaoyu Islands dispute,” said Jia Xiudong, a senior research fellow with the China Institute of International Studies.
Abe’s diplomatic arrangement is meant to build a kind of international strategic landscape that favors Japan while standing against China, said Liu Jiangyong, a professor of international relations with Tsinghua University. Though the diplomatic debut of Abe’s second term as prime minister geographically steered clear of China, it nonetheless kept China at its diplomatic core in the region, said Liu.
“The Abe administration is trying to strengthen ties with some Asia-Pacific countries to create a better international landscape for Japan, while attempting to sow discord between China and some of its neighbors for Japan’s own benefit,” said the professor. Despite similarly strained ties with Seoul over a separate territorial spat, Abe’s interactions with South Korea showed a greater eagerness to repair ties there. The Japanese prime minister recently said he hoped to establish a trusting relationship with President-elect Park Geun Hye as soon as possible. In early January, Abe sent former Japanese Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga to lead envoys to Seoul in order to mend bilateral relations. The envoys delivered a letter to Park, in which Abe voiced hope for progress in bilateral relations.
During Taro’s latest visit to Myanmar, Japan announced that it will write off Myanmar’s overdue debt and provide a fresh low-interest loan. And Japanese media reported that during his latest Viet Nam visit Abe promised closer security ties with the ASEAN country, seeking to bolster an alliance between Japan and other countries embroiled in territorial disputes with China.
“Abe’s efforts to ease tensions with South Korea, deepen relations with ASEAN countries as well as his possible visit to Russia in April are all essentially international public relations exercises relating to Japan’s island dispute with China,” Liu said.
“Tokyo knows that it cannot confront Beijing directly, and that’s why it depends on its alliance with Washington while courting other regional players that it can collaborate with, including Australia and some ASEAN countries,”Liu said. “But East Asian countries still have wariness about Japan’s moving politically right as well as Abe’s attitude toward Japan’s past war crimes.”
It is not an exaggeration to call Abe’s new cabinet right wing. Fourteen in the cabinet belong to the League for Going to Worship Together at Yasukuni, a Tokyo shrine that honors war dead including some war criminals of World War II. Thirteen support Nihon Kaigi, a nationalist think tank that rejects Japan’s “apology diplomacy” for its wartime misdeeds. Nine belong to a parliamentary association that wants the teaching of history in schools to present a better image of Japan’s militarist era. They deny most of Japan’s wartime atrocities.
Recently, Sanae Takaichi, head of the powerful policy research council of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said Abe should issue a statement that backtracks on some of Japan’s previous apologies for wartime actions and“protects the honor and pride” of the nation. So far, the Japanese Government hasn’t officially apologized for forcing sexual slaves from Asian countries to serve in Japan’s frontline military brothels during World War II. “One of the major determining factors in international relations is national interest. There is no country that is willing to make an enemy of China within the Asia-Pacific region or even around the world. Although taking advantage of the disputes China has with some other coun- tries may allow Japan to alienate a few countries from China, it is impossible to force them to antagonize China,” Jia said to Beijing Review.
Heightened tensions
Besides the hasty foreign visits, the Japanese military has been maneuvering frequently since the inauguration of the new cabinet. Japan’s Self-Defense Forces have carried out an island defense drill and a five-day joint military exercise with the U.S. Air Force in the East China Sea. In the meantime, Japan is expected to increase defense spending for the first time in 11 years. The extra cash will be used to increase the number of military personnel and upgrade equipment.
“Japan’s frequent military drills aim in one sense to deter China, but mostly intend to show the Japanese public its hard-line attitude toward the island dispute. Tokyo also wants to create an impression to the outside world that Washington would join hands with it to respond to China over the island dispute. But deterrence is of little practical significance for China,” said Jia.
However, real dangers still pose a threat. Chinese and Japanese military planes shadowed each other in the vicinity of the Diaoyu Islands on January 10. A statement from China’s Ministry of National Defense said two Japanese F-15 fighters closely followed a Chinese Y-8 military transport aircraft when it was on a regular patrol in airspace off China’s east coast. At the same time, a Japanese reconnaissance aircraft was also operating in that area. In response, China scrambled two J-10 fighters to conduct verification and monitoring.
“The incident highlighted the lingering potential danger for friction between the two neighbors,” said Zhang Zhaozhong, a professor with the National Defense University of the People’s Liberation Army.
Zhang said sending warplanes to safeguard China’s sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands doesn’t mean China wants to solve the island dispute through open conflict.
“Every step of China has been a response to Japan’s actions. It is simply self-defense, but shows that if Japan resorts to using force, China will certainly fight back,” Zhang said.
Liu of Tsinghua University said the Diaoyu Islands issue is a persistent territorial dispute between China and Japan. To avoid the escalation of the current situation, the two sides should find a way to begin diplomatic negotiations. Both countries must engage in crisis management over the dispute. Recent tensions over the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea flared up in September 2012, when the Japanese Government “purchased” some of the islands from their Japanese“owner,” even though the islands appeared on China’s official maps several centuries ago.
“There is no reason for Tokyo to refuse negotiations with China on the issue,” Liu said.
During a press conference days before his first overseas tour, however, Abe reiterated his stance over the Diaoyu Islands issue, saying the issue is “not negotiable.”
Jia of the CIIS said the tough stance of Abe could only harm the mutual trust between the two neighbors and make an eventual settlement of the dispute more difficult to attain. China wishes to improve relations with Japan, but it will not bow to unfair compromises or allow Japan to damage its core interests.
While Abe started his ASEAN tour, former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama paid a four-day visit to China. Hatoyama held talks with Chinese officials and visited the Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre, in which Japanese forces killed an estimated 300,000 Chinese people following their December 1937 conquest of Nanjing, then capital of China. Analysts hope that the former Japanese leader would help build a communication channel amid tensions over the Diaoyu Islands.
“Hatoyama cannot represent Abe, but he can represent the views of many Japanese people. The visit could exert a degree of influence in Japan,” Jia said.